Does anyone under 35 care about Vietnam? [View All]

A little background: I primarily work as a staff member at a college here in California, but I also teach two classes in an adjunct role. One of the things I like to do in the classroom, even though it has nothing to so with my job or curriculum, is to try and encourage my students to participate in their world, their electoral processes, and to stand up for their beliefs. I rarely espouse my own personal views (unless a student asks directly) because I'm more interested in getting them INVOLVED than getting them to vote any particular way.

Well, this morning I had a student toss me a curveball that I simply wasn't expecting. I had given the students a 20 minute quiz that 90% of them finished in 10 minutes, and the topic of conversation in the room turned to politics and the presidential elections. Surprisingly, very few of the kids in the class hold any real interest in the election, and student after student told me that they saw little difference between Bush and Kerry(!), and that the discussions so far concentrated on issues that the kids really didn't care about...like Vietnam and Social Security. When I asked one of the kids why he didn't care about Bush skipping out on Vietnam, his response was blunt "Vietnam is about as relevant to me as the War of 1812. They are both just chapters in a history book".

That got me thinking: How important is the whole Kerry/Bush Vietnam discussion to me? I was in diapers when the war ended, and while I technically think it was unjust, I certainly don't have any real emotion or strong feelings toward it because I DIDN'T LIVE THROUGH IT. Whether or not he fought in Vietnam wont sway my vote one iota, so why is so much time spent debating this?

So what issues were the kids interested in? Outsourcing, the job market, when we'll get out of Iraq, infringements on civil liberties under Bush, and assistance for low income people...issues that Kerry hasn't pushed or taken firm stances on in this campaign. What issues didn't they care about? Vietnam, prescription drugs, and whether we should be in Iraq in the first place (one kids summed their feelings quite well: "We're there, so all that's important is getting out. If someone lied we can prosecute them later"). Terrorism itself barely blipped their radar (not one of them, even the liberal ones, really felt that Bush was at fault).

And yes, this post DOES have a point: If Kerry really wants to win, he needs to stop concentrating on the "hardcore vote" and the "old people vote", and spend some time addressing issues that matter to the younger half of our population. Right now, MANY college age kids are tuning out this election because it isn't confronting any of the issues that matter to THEM. We're going to need every vote this fall, and to marginalize or fail to address the concerns of such a potentially large coting block is absurd and could cost Kerry the win.